In the wake of the fatal school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut in December, Lesley University is hosting a series of experts and authors to foster a conversation in the Lesley community and beyond to address the renewed national attention to gun control and gun violence in the United States.

Earlier this month, Lesley kicked off the Gun Series with John Rosenthal, Massachusetts’ most prominent gun control advocate, who discussed his work as co-founder of the non-profit advocacy organization Stop Handgun Violence.

On March 4, the Gun Series welcomes author and psychologist Dr. Peter Langman, a Lesley alumnus and school shooting expert, whose research has been cited in congressional testimony and was presented to President Obama following the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Following Dr. Langman in the series is Harvard professor and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore, who will speak on April 1. Lepore will talk about the history of gun ownership, gun rights and gun control.

Lesley President Joseph B. Moore initiated this series in order to raise awareness and foster discussion about ways to create safer communities and schools.

“Many of us have spent part of our careers teaching in schools. Many of our students are preparing to fulfill the same roles held by those who were killed in Newtown,” said Moore. “We should not accept as normal that we must lock school doors out of fear of a gunman or train teachers about lockdown procedures. School and community environments matter to us, a lot, and the current ‘normal’ is not a sign of healthy communities. It is time for leaders and citizens from all walks of life to join together and help this country change its priorities.”

The Gun Series lectures are free and open to the public, and are each followed by a Q&A session and a reception.

Dr. Langman, author of Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters, will speak at Lesley on Monday, March 4 at 5 p.m. in the University Hall Amphitheater on Lesley’s Porter Campus, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Learn more here.

To read coverage of Rosenthal’s discussion at Lesley, including his call to action for more citizens to get involved in our democracy, learn more here.

Lepore will speak at 4 p.m. on Monday, April 1, also in the University Hall Amphitheater. Taking a long view of the contemporary political debate, Lepore will
chronicle the changes and continuities in Americans' ideas about guns,
from the 18th century to the 21st century.

The Gun Series conversations at Lesley are sponsored by the Office of Lesley President Joseph B. Moore.